***This is an edited chapter! I'm taking the story in a bit of a different direction, but needed to remedy these last few chapters***

Grace was pacing back and forth across the waxed tile floors. As expected, the airport had temporarily canceled all flights due to the terrorist attack nearby.

It had almost been two hours since she, Jim, and Collin had left the small town and it was already eleven o'clock in the morning.

Where was Nolan?

"Hey, Grace."

Grace turned to see Collin carrying a packaged sandwich from a kiosk nearby. He tossed it to her and gestured towards a seat in the gate area of their plane. "I figured we could have a bit to eat while Jim's talking to his wife."

Grace took the sandwich with a forced smile and sat down. She fingered the plastic wrap distractedly.

"He'll be here soon," Collin said, opening a water bottle.

"I hope so," Grace murmured, and then sighed, "He basically gave himself up to those guys. The best we can hope for is that he was captured."

"Nah, that man could outsmart a fox."

Grace cast a nervous glance at the airport's entrance. "I hope you're right."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nolan limped to an empty car parked in front of an old honey stand on the side of the road.

He collapsed on the grey hood with a groan and looked down at his chest. A bullet had injected itself below his shoulder, just above the heart.

He pressed a rag against it again and clamored into the car. Slowly, he hotwired it to life and started the engine, gritting his teeth as he made his way down the road again. The airport was only ten minutes away, he remembered Grace saying.

That was good.

He should have enough blood to make it there.

Nolan groaned again and glanced at the medical bag he'd found in an eye clinic. He'd deal with that later once he had some distance between him and the terrorists.

His mind flashed back to half an hour ago. He knew he wouldn't make it far if he tried to bolt out of the city, so he decided to do what he did best.

He found a good position in an apartment building and began picking off men as they came near.

There were two truckloads of soldiers and Nolan suspected about twenty men in total. It made a formidable squad, enough to overrun a town, but since Nolan was alone, he was harder to target. The first ten minutes of holding his position was easy since it took a while for the terrorists down below to locate where his shots were coming from.

Then they decided to storm the building, gathering all forces together to get inside.

That was what Nolan wanted, but he forgot about having to get out of the building himself.

He winced at the memory.

He'd found a back entrance and had to battle his way down the narrow hallway. That was when some Colossus brute popped a cap in his chest.

So, of course, Nolan popped one in his face. He eventually got out, but the going was anything but easy.

While the rest of Colossus was searching for him in the building, he made a dash for it across town and made it to the abandoned honey stand on the side of the road.

After a few minutes, Nolan pulled into a rest area that was half-full of travelers. He parked in an empty spot in the corner and pulled the medical kit into the center console.

He stripped off his jacket and shirt and fished around for a scalpel and a clamp.

"Okay, here we go..." he murmured, downing three ibuprofen pills included in the kit.

He leaned the seat back and positioned the rag and clamp nearby. Exhaling slowly, he cut the scalpel into his skin, gritting his teeth.

He dabbed away the excess blood before using the clamp to dig into the small hole and pulled the bullet out.

Every muscle in his body was tense with pain. Sweat dripped from his brow and it was all he could do to keep cutting.

He tried to resist the heavy breaths that the pain evoked as he struck the metal embedded in his skin.

Clenching his jaw tightly, he pinched the bullet in between the clamp and pulled. It felt like extracting an old splinter that was set on fire and infected all around.

Nolan had to pause as the pain became unbearable.

After taking a measured breath, he managed to pull the bullet out. He tossed it onto the floorboard and began stitching up the wound, wiping away blood as he went.

Finally, he was done.

He rested in his seat, chest heaving with exhaustion. He looked up to see a woman and man dressed in expensive clothing staring at him from about ten feet away.

Nolan offered a smile with a small wave before sitting up and rolling down the window.

"Excuse me," he said to the couple, "Do you know where the airport is?"

                                                                                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nolan stood up when he saw Grace walk into the lobby. Security wouldn't let anyone near the boarding gates, so he had to call her to come down.

She spotted him with a relieved smile and made her way over.

"You made it!" She cried, crushing him in a hug.

Nolan inwardly groaned, but exhaled a laugh and hugged her back. "You're not the only one who can come out of situations alive."

"Ooh, but I can do it without a scratch," she said, pulling away with a grin.

"What do you—"

"I felt you wince," she fingered his jacket and pulled it away slightly, revealing the bloody shirt underneath. "Ouch."

"Little more than a scratch, eh?"

"Just a bit."

He smiled at her. "I'm glad you got here safe."

"Me too."

Their gazes settled on each other and Nolan noted how pretty Grace looked with her hair askew and her eyes crinkled at the sides when she smiled.

She stepped back. "I'm still angry at you for doing that."

"Doing what? Being awesome?"

She tried to glare, but laughed. "Don't ever say that again. And no, I mean you using yourself as a human target. It's not tactical."

Nolan scoffed. "Tactical? You think they were being tactical by ramming into cars and giving me threats? Grace, hardly anything is "tactical" these days."

A green light blinked on above the entrance and an announcer came onto the speaker system. "Thank you for your patience, ladies and gentlemen. We are now reopening security and sending out flights 367, 523..."

"Come on," Grace said, taking his arm.

They went through security before meeting up with Jim and Collin again.

Both of them shook Nolan's hand heartily.

"Glad you made it, son." Jim said.

"Grace was worried about you, but I told her those soldiers wouldn't even want you once they realized what a headache you'd be," Collin said with a wink.

"Please," Grace rolled her eyes and leaned in to whisper loudly, "Collin was the one crying like a baby that his biggest hero was in danger."

"Hero, eh?" Nolan chuckled, clapping the young man on the back. "I'm flattered."

"That's not true," Toby glowered at her.

"Oh, he totally was,"

"Anyway," Jim interjected, clapping Nolan on the shoulder, "happy to have you back."

Nolan held his breath as pain rattled in his chest. He caught Grace trying to hide a laugh.

The speakers came on again. "Now boarding flight 515."

"That's us," Jim said, heading for the line of people waiting at the gate to board the plane.

Nolan watched as Collin followed and turned to Grace. "Come with me."

"What's up?" She asked as Nolan leaned against the windowsill overlooking the landing strip. "Our plane's about to leave in five minutes." She said.

"I got some information," Nolan said, "And I trust Jim and Collin, but my guess is that they're going to head back home once we get to the UK, so I figured we could keep it between you and I."

"Got it."

Nolan sighed heavily. "We were on the right track."

"About the EMPs?"

He nodded grimly. "He's been putting this plan in motion for years. Every terrorist the government thinks is dead just faked it...they're all alive and well, and they've been creating the EMPs all this time. Egor's been recruiting people...kids..." Nolan clenched his jaw, "Every terrorist is going to take over a certain area and everything will basically be under Egor's control because no one has the power to resist."

Grace rested both hands on the windowsill and exhaled, bowing her head. "If we don't disable the EMP in London..."

"We're screwed."

"We need a plan," she said, biting her lip in concentration, "In reality, we just need an elite squad to go with us to the London EMP and have the military giving us outside cover."

"That's good," Nolan said, nodding, "We won't need many people to infiltrate the EMP and if we had five hundred other men or so taking care of Egor's army, we might have a chance."

"Exactly."

"Two minutes until departure." Said one of the stewardesses from the front of the line.

Nolan stepped forward to go, but Grace tapped his arm.

He turned to see a semi-truck coming into view.

His eyes widened and he swore under his breath. "It can't be...they've already followed me here?"

"We have to warn security," Grace said, going to leave, but Nolan stopped her.

"No."

"What?"

"They'll stop our flight," he said darkly.

"Nolan—they'll massacre everyone in here!"

"But we have to get out first."

"One minute until departure."

"Nolan," Grace hissed, "We can't just leave when we know terrorists are making their way into the building as we speak."

But Nolan's eyes were hard and determined. "Our job is to save the rest of the world...we can't do that if we stay. We need to get away."

Grace's mouth opened and closed. She kept glancing out the window at the truck that was now parking near the building.

She hung her head before turning away without a word and joining the line that had just started moving.

They were split up as they were being seated in the crowded plane, but Nolan glanced down the aisle and saw Grace staring outside with a haunted expression.

He settled back in his seat next to Jim and closed his eyes, hating himself a little more. But he knew he was right. It would take at least fifteen minutes for the terrorists to infiltrate the building from the back entrance, especially since the airport was on high alert. He didn't doubt, however, that they'd get in eventually...

He sighed again. Why did doing what was necessary always feel so wrong? His leg jerked up and down nervously and he kept glancing out the window.

He knew how long these planes could take to lift off...

The stewardesses came around and demonstrated the safety procedure. Soon the plane was in motion, slowly maneuvering backwards and creeping down the runway.

Come on, come on...

The plane took to the sky with a shudder and they were off to London. He relaxed in his seat with a sigh.

"You okay, Nolan?"

Nolan flinched and had almost forgotten that Jim had been sitting next to him.

"Uh, sorry...just a little on edge."

Jim nodded. "You've had a hard time. How'd you get out of that city, anyway?"

"Oh, you know..." Nolan said with a forced smile. "A lot of luck."

                                                                                         ~~~~~~~~

The plane landed in Heathrow, London at three o'clock that afternoon. As Nolan passed by the cockpit on his way out, he heard the pilots talking in low voices.

"I don't know...we just lost communication."

"Well I sure hope we won't get fired for completing the route."

"What else we were supposed to do?"

Nolan lowered his brow. The terrorists had most likely cut off all form of communication before attacking.

People from other planes swarmed the gate exits.

Nolan was trying to find the rest of his group when he caught sight of a familiar figure sitting casually in one of the waiting chair.

His brow furrowed. "Toby?"

Toby looked up with a mischievous grin and he stood up. "Well, if it isn't Mr. Clay!"

Nolan laughed in shock as Toby clapped him on the shoulder. "What are you doing here, man?"

"Coming to see you, of course! I was thinking maybe a candlelit dinner this evening to chat about old times, yeah?"

Nolan chuckled again. "You asking me out on a date, Fairfax?"

Toby laughed and looked around. "Grace didn't get killed yet, did she?"

"Ah, no..." Nolan said. But she probably wants to kill me...

Jim came up and shook Toby's hand, followed by Collin.

"You're the one who's been doing all the hard work back in the States, eh?" Jim said.

"That'd actually be James and Maddie, but," he glanced at Nolan, "I'm the one who's had to deal with Hateful Howard at HQ."

"Oooh, tough luck there, buddy." Nolan grimaced.

Grace came up, her brow bent. When she saw Toby, however, her face lit up again and Nolan gave a sigh of relief. "Toby!" She cried, throwing her arms around him.

"Woah, I haven't been greeted like that since Maddie thought I'd gotten run over by a car in grade school," Toby pulled away and smiled, "You look beautiful as always, Miss Evans."

"Wish I could say the same," Grace replied with a wink.

"Well, now that the old gang's back together—plus a couple new additions—I've got a nice hotel booked up and a warm dinner reserved if we all want to head back and made a few plans."

"Sounds good," Collin said.

Nolan started to follow, but noticed Grace staring up at the TV on the wall.

He didn't need to look, but did anyway.

Breaking news: Shooting at Russian airport leaves fifteen dead, suspects still at large.

"Grace..."

"It's fine," she said, averting her eyes and making her way through the throng of travelers.

Nolan sighed heavily.

The way to the hotel was filled with idle chitchat, but Nolan detected a tenseness in between their words.

Things were about to get bad, everyone knew that. Colossus was bigger than anyone could have ever imagined...and brilliant.

They seemed impossible to beat, but they had a chance...a slim one, but still a chance.

The hotel Toby had booked was as British as Nolan had imagined. The architecture was beautiful and the building sat in the middle of a high-class street.

"Wow, Toby," Collin whistled.

"I figured we Americans don't visit your homeland much, so..."

The interior was as classy as a hotel lobby could be and Nolan welcomed the warm air. They made their way to their rooms to find that clothes had been placed on the corners of their beds.

"We'll meet up for dinner at six o'clock." Toby said, before retiring to his own accommodations.

Nolan ran a hot bath and sunk down into the steaming water with a slow sigh. He took the time to properly clean his sore bullet wound and scrub the grime and blood from his fingernails.

It felt good.

The only sounds around him was the hum of the bathroom vent and the occasional drip of water from the faucet.

He closed his eyes and heard gunshots breaking the quiet.

He jerked upright.

Nothing.

Trying to calm his beating heart, he tried to relax again. But he kept hearing them—the shots, the yells, the screams. How many people had he killed today? How many more tomorrow?

And what about those around him?

Nolan was watching as Collin slipped into something darker, watching as Grace realized that she couldn't save everyone.

It had to end.

It had to.

They were all becoming the monsters they feared.

After the water had become lukewarm, Nolan wasted the rest of his time zoning out in front of the TV, then made sure he was presentable for dinner.

The dining room was pristinely set with a calming ambiance. The people at the white linen tables were chatting quietly over glasses of wine and servers in professional attire roamed to each one, carrying trays of food or drink.

Grace, Toby, Jim, and Collin were already at a table and Nolan sat down. "Evening."

"Well, don't you look...clean," Toby commented.

"I'll tell you," Collin said, "I had dirt in places I never even knew existed."

"Me and you both." Jim added, shaking his head.

They waited until the food came before Toby said, "As much as I would've liked to be here for no reason, I have to admit that I'm here on business."

The air became thick with anticipation.

Toby folded his hands on the table and pursed his lips. "Howard...has decided to take over the operation."

"What?" Grace blurted.

Nolan pinched the bridge of his nose.

"He says that we've done enough and that he's sending out the US military to be stationed all over the world to combat the terrorists. Says that the EMPs are now secondary to the threat that these soldiers pose to civilians."

"No," Jim groaned, "But that isn't the issue! The EMPs are going to wipe out any resistance we can give to the point where we can't fight the terrorists."

"The terrorists are just a surface issue," Collin agreed.

"In order to defeat an army," Nolan said, "We have to destroy their weapons."

Toby nodded. "I tried to tell him, but he's coming to meet with the UN as we speak. Other leaders are going to give aid as well...but not the kind we need."

Grace sighed heavily. "So that's it, then? We're out of the mission?"

The side of Toby's mouth twitched into a slight smile. "Well...legally, yes."

Nolan nodded. "We're going to be arrested anyway..."

"So let's try to get the UN on our side...if they don't comply, we'll go our own way." Toby finished.

Jim and Collin suddenly grew uneasy. "Well, you three may be in legal trouble, but Collin and I are in the clear as of yet." Jim said.

"Understandable." Nolan said. "We won't think twice if you decide to go home."

"You deserve it." Grace added.

Serious conversation died for the time being until Jim and Collin excused themselves for the night.

Toby ordered some tea to be served.

Nolan took the opportunity to tell him Egor's master plan of taking over massive areas of earth.

Toby nodded as if he wasn't surprised. "I thought something was up. Planting all of these terrorists must have taken a lot of organization ahead of time..."

"We need to speak with the UN while Howard's here," Grace said, "Then we'll need to move out quickly. If we can't stop the EMP here in London, we're done for. The EMPs will have gathered enough power to let off several other major devices in successive order...we won't get another opportunity."

"We also need to organize a strategy to get to and destroy the EMP," Nolan added.

Toby sat back in his seat.